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<title>one can only imagine how atlas felt by Kate_With_A_K</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24384172">one can only imagine how atlas felt</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kate_With_A_K/pseuds/Kate_With_A_K'>Kate_With_A_K</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hakoda (Avatar) is a Good Parent, No beta we die like mne, POV Outsider, and how much they have yet to go through, and that none of it is fair, hakoda realizes how much all of these kids have been through, sokka finally breaks down, sokka needs a hug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 02:07:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>712</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24384172</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kate_With_A_K/pseuds/Kate_With_A_K</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hakoda finally gets his son to open up, and realizes just how much these kids have been through.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hakoda &amp; Sokka (Avatar), Sokka/Yue (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>369</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>one can only imagine how atlas felt</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>i may or may not be slightly intoxicated but i just finished my rewatch and i... i have a lot of feelings......</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“The moon looks beautiful tonight,” Hakoda said, taking a seat next to his son.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, she does,” Sokka responded, voice almost a whisper, his eyes focused on the full moon above them.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Silence fell between the two; too tense to be considered comfortable, but not thick enough to be off-putting, like when Hakoda had tried to break through to Prince Zuko (and oh, how Hakoda wanted to prove to the young man - still only a kid, really - that he had much to be proud of, but that was a mission for a different time.) It was somewhat unnerving, Sokka being this quiet; from the moment he was born, Sokka had liked to make his presence known. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“He’ll make a great chief one day,”</span>
  </em>
  <span> the elders had said, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“the entirety of the village will be able to hear him, no matter how far away they are.” </span>
  </em>
  <span>At the time, Hakoda had merely laughed and brushed off the idea. Sokka had been but a babe, and the woes of leadership were yet to be on the radar of problems to deal with.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Hakoda could hardly reconcile the image of the small child in Kya’s arms, the one who had come too early and barely made it through his first night, with the sharp edges of the young warrior sitting next to him now.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Her name is Yue.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>If Hakoda was a lesser man, he would have denied being startled at the sudden sound of his son’s voice. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Who?” He responded, quickly recovering from his initial alarm.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“The moon,” Sokka responded. “Her name is… was… well, I guess her name still is Yue?” He continued. “She was… she was absolutely gorgeous, dad. The most beautiful human being I ever laid eyes on, and that’s saying something. And she liked me! Me! I mean, who wouldn’t like me, but like… she actually thought I was funny, and handsome, and I don’t think I ever could have imagined anyone better and anyone more perfect in my entire life?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Confusion at the whole situation aside, Hakoda nodded at Sokka, encouraging the young man to continue. Sokka had never been one to open up unprompted, and Hakoda would take anything at this point to understand his son even a minnow’s width more.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“And then Admiral Zhao attacked… and the moon spirit… the moon spirit was killed… but Yue…” Sokka had paused, taking a deep breath as though to keep himself from crying. And as Hakoda shifted closer to his son, and saw the unshed tears built up in his eyes, he realized that this wasn’t just some story.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“And then she.. And I…” Sokka tried to continue, “she just…” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka looked up to meet his father’s eyes.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Does it ever stop hurting?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Hakoda hugged his son close to his chest, rocking gently as sobs overtook the young warrior in his arms.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It gets better,” he whispers into his son’s ear, “but no.” Hakoda had never been one to lie to his children, and now didn’t seem like a good time to start. “It doesn’t ever fully stop, not really.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“It’s not fair!” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Sokka screams, breaking down even further. And as tears start to sting his own eyes, Hakoda has to agree. It’s not fair. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It’s not fair that his fifteen year old son knows how to lead armies, that he knows the pain of losing the love of one’s life, but has yet to learn how to shave.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It’s not fair that his thirteen year old daughter has had to heal her friend from near-death, that she knows the sharp sting of betrayal as well as she knows the back of her hand.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It’s not fair that a twelve year old girl had to run away from everything she’d known to feel like she belonged somewhere.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It’s not fair that a sixteen year old boy has experienced more pain, physical and emotional, from his own family, than most men would see in a lifetime.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It’s not fair that the fate of the world lies on the shoulders of one twelve year old boy.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>They’re just kids, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Hakoda thinks as he holds his crying son as close as he can; his son who has faced more demons than a majority of the Southern Water Tribe’s greatest warriors.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>They’re just kids.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
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